It takes about twenty seconds to walk the length of a basketball court.
Speeding up to a slow light jog cuts the time in half.
If you’ve been metaphorically walking for a while, this change will work wonders.
»» Worth noting…it’s not a concept that can be rolled over and over forever…because ultimately you can’t sprint all the time.
It’s foolish to share fake success when you could be using that time to work on the real thing.
All that emotional energy and time editing the pictures and deciding on the perfect background and scripting your language just vague enough. You can do better.
Go back to work.
When you go to the grocery store you don’t worry about what you’re going to say to the deli guy and you don’t write a script for your interaction with the cashier. You just make it up.
So we know you can do it.
But at the grocery store if you fumble some words you still get your roast beef…and are allowed to come back next time.
When it comes to creative pursuits…you’re just as able to make it up but it’s easy to get tied down in what you think the consequences might be if this doesn’t go perfectly. When the truth is whatever happens, you’re allowed to come back next time.
You don’t see more than one hotel room per visit. So when the hotel came up with a cool aesthetic for a room, they simply duplicated that room a couple hundred times and everyone is happy with their stylish lodging.
On the other hand…if you’re walking through a parade of homes and every room has the same rug and chair and artwork and lamps…the parade ain’t gonna last.
So as your building your thing, refining your process, engaging your audience…How much has to be new and how much can be repeated (to the delight or unawareness of the audience)?
If you have a specific goal in mind, a landing place, a climactic moment…who has had that moment before and what happened just before it? And then before that…
You play the theater, then the theater for multiple nights, and then the arena.
Before you get interviewed on the big podcasts you have to have their contact info…and have to incite excitement in them BEFORE you email.
You must first have 999 streams before you have 1000.
Before you release a song you have to decide that the song is finished.
Before the bus comes the sprinter, before the sprinter, the van and trailer, and carpool before that.
You can’t know exactly how you’re going to get to where you want to end up, but it’s a reasonable strategy to consider what might happen just before.
»» With a little luck you’ll get to leap frog a step or two but luck isn’t great to build a plan around.
I was driving and saw a fast food billboard advertising a slushy…$2.19 ANY SIZE!!!
Why wouldn’t everyone just buy the biggest size?…But more importantly…what’s on offer?
Satisfaction. That’s what’s on offer. For $2.19 you’ll be satisfied.
So why not get the biggest size, won’t that provide the most satisfaction?
Maybe they just ate.
Maybe it’s for their kid.
Maybe they’re watching their sugar.
Maybe they don’t like too much of a cold dessert.
Maybe they feel guilty for getting the big one.
Maybe they think getting the big one is taking advantage of the deal.
Satisfaction comes in many flavors and variations. But we all want it. And $2.19 seems like a great deal to have a few moments of it.
»» It turns out I’m satisfied being the guy who drives past the exit but makes a note to write about it someday.